West Asia conflict: Aaj Tak, NDTV, News18 played Bahrain video as Iranian attack in Dubai

After the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, Iran retaliated by attacking several locations in West Asia, including a luxury hotel and an airport in Dubai. Visuals purportedly showing the attacks and the damage in Dubai soon began circulating online.

Amid this, Aaj Tak anchor Anjana Om Kashyap aired a video in her show claiming it showed a major Iranian strike on Dubai. In the clip, a drone is seen crashing into a tall building, triggering an explosion as people on the street film the incident in panic. The channel presented the footage as Iran deploying Shahed-136 drones to hit high-rise buildings in Dubai, including those allegedly housing American soldiers. The video appears at the 4:08 mark in the report below.

Additionally, Aaj Tak published a report on its website using a screenshot from the video. The report also embedded the clip of the drone explosion, which was later removed in an updated version of the article. The images below show screenshots from the report before it was updated.

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Similarly, India Today, NDTV and News18 featured the video in their reports. CNN-News18’s editorial director Rahul Shivshankar and News Nation’s senior editor Madhurendra Kumar also aired and shared the clip, claiming it showed an Iranian Shahed-136 drone striking a building in Dubai. At the time of this article being written, some of the media outlets had removed or updated their posts.

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Tehran-based media outlet Press TV also shared the video on its X handle, claiming it showed Iran’s Shahed-136 drone striking a building in Dubai.

A Shahed 136 drone delivered a significant impact on a building in Dubai where American military personnel were stationed.

Follow https://t.co/B3zXG73Jym pic.twitter.com/3FUaXDlTS2

— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) March 3, 2026

Fact Check

Alt News performed a reverse image search on keyframes from the video shown in these reports. This led us to the same clip uploaded on March 1, 2026, by an X account named @iv1cky. The video’s caption claimed that an Iranian Shahed-136 drone had struck a skyscraper in Manama, Bahrain.

Another video of the moment when the Iranian drone, Shahid-136, hit a skyscraper in Manama, Bahrain. pic.twitter.com/43tq7ZOZ54

— ⩇⩇:⩇⩇ (@iv1cky) March 1, 2026

A closer look at the video reveals the words “Zaya Tower” on one of the buildings. Using this clue, we geolocated the site of the explosion. The location matches the Street View of Zaya Tower and Hayat Palace in Manama, the capital of Bahrain. The tall building visible behind these structures — where the explosion appears to occur — is the Era Views Tower.

CNN News reported, based on geolocated and verified video, that an Iranian Shahid drone struck the upper floors of the Era Views Tower in Manama, Bahrain.

In other words, the video that Indian media outlets such as Aaj Tak, India Today, News18 and NDTV described as footage of an Iranian drone attack on Dubai actually shows a strike in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

This is not the first time Indian media outlets have rushed to air dramatic visuals without verifying their authenticity. Last year as well, during tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack, several misleading reports circulated using AI-generated visuals, old clips and even gaming footage as scenes from the ongoing crisis.